Category: Musings

In Search Of: An Austen Audiobook

I’m starting a new blog post series today.  I hope to help people navigate the local library’s online catalog and successfully find the items they want to read, listen or watch. For purposes of this blog, I define “Local Library” as the Lansing Community Library, one of the many regional libraries participating in the NExpress regional shared catalog of the Northeast Kansas Library System.

I’m calling this series “In Search Of: ” as a practical guide to finding materials I want to check out.  This series will contain real world examples taken directly from my everyday routine life.  If you have a question, situation or scenario that you struggled with, please post a comment or email me the particulars and I’ll be glad to assist or connect you with the correct library resource personnel.

What I’m Searching For and Why

Today’s conundrum brings us to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.  Next month, my Local Library’s adult book group will be reading and discussing this classic.  My preferred format for reading these days is to listen to audiobooks from my smartphone through my Bluetooth headset while commuting to work.  My two hour daily commute would otherwise be wasted time when I could have been reading!

The challenge with a book like Sense and Sensibility comes from its classic status.  All libraries will have multiple editions, in print, ebook and audiobook formats.  In this case, there are also videos thrown into the mix because Sense and Sensibility has been adapted for television and film many times.  So, when I first search at the NExpress online catalog, I know my results are going to be many and I will need to filter them down to get to the format I prefer.

NOTE: You should already have a NExpress library card and PIN (issued by your Local Library) and have successfully logged into your NExpress account.  This allows you to place a hold on any item you find in your catalog search results and have it delivered to your Local Library and held at the front desk for your pickup. Continue reading “In Search Of: An Austen Audiobook”

Local Library Makes Computer Access Easy as Pie

Easy as pie?  For me, it is way easier.  I’ll explain that later.

My local library, the Lansing Community Library, recently installed software created by EnvisionWare which makes accessing a computer a snap.

Here’s a quick ‘how to’ to give you an idea of just how easy this is.

Don’t have a library card?  No worries.  Just stop at the front desk and the friendly library techs will give you a guest pass or issue you a brand new shiny Lansing Community Library card.

Continue reading “Local Library Makes Computer Access Easy as Pie”

My Son Turns Thirty

I should have scheduled this post to publish just after two o’clock this afternoon, which would have been thirty years to the hour marking the birth of Derek Randall Moss.  But, I couldn’t wait that long to welcome my son to his third decade.

As you can surmise, this blog post will be a trip down memory lane for me.  And unfortunately I don’t have many photos of Derek from his first decade.  It was the age of film cameras and I owned a very cheap almost disposable 35 mm camera that I took a few snapshots with.  I later scanned a few of them to create digital copies, but many of them still languish in shoe boxes in the storage room.  Oddly, I have more video footage of both kids on old mini-VHS than I do still photos.  At least until we reach the mid-90s when digital photography really started taking off.

First Photo taken of Derek (9 Feb 1986)
First Photo taken of Derek (9 Feb 1986)

I won’t go into the gory details but some interesting trivia from the night before.  Continue reading “My Son Turns Thirty”

Vanishing Addendum of DVR Highlights

Continuing in the vein of my previous post, I haven’t completely neglected my DVR this January, although it is my last resort for entertainment (see my reference to inferior HD quality provided by satellite subscription).

This week brought back the formidable Agent Carter who is apparently carrying the investigative torch of the mysterious and ancient society obsessed with the portal stone most recently perplexing the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  This is another series Terry rolls his eyes at.  I accused him of not caring for it because it has such a strong female lead.  He protested that was not the case.  I just love period dramas – the costumes, cars, sets, locations, etc.  Besides, we final met Jarvis’ wife (rumor was last season that she was a figment of Jarvis’ imagination).

I’ve dragged Terry along watching the new Syfy original series The Expanse, based on the SF book series of the same name by James S.A. Corey.  Except for one small quibble, I really enjoyed the first book of that series, Leviathan Wakes, and I do plan to eventually continuing reading the books.  I’m enjoying watching the series because good SF television series are few and far between.

But enough science fiction.  How about some epic fantasy?  Enjoyed Terry Brook’s Shannara books, including the original 1977 Sword of Shannara?  Then tune in to MTV (yes I really did just type those three letters) to feast your eyes upon The Shannara Chronicles, which debuted this month.  I’m three episodes in and pretty much hooked.

That’s it for now.  Can’t remember if anything else is forthcoming that I’m interested in.  If you have a suggestion for a show I should try, please leave a comment.

Oh, and Phase I of my weekend work project completed successfully.  Now we wait … so time to watch another episode of Manhattan.

 

 

 

The Case of the Vanishing January

Today is the 22nd of January and of 2016.  I woke up this morning to a bitter cold Friday, to the prospect of working through most of the weekend.  Not the best way to start your day.  A huge project I’ve been involved with for many many moons is finally rolling out.  So while I’m stressed beyond belief, I’m excited to finally be able to put this project in the completed bin come Monday morning.  Then it’s on to the next “Big Thing,” er, project.

Stressful work-life aside, January wasn’t a complete loss for leisure.  I’ve read a space opera that I liked, listened to an audiobook for a book club that was interesting, read my first graphic novel for another book club and read an ebook novella (click here to see what I’ve read so far this year).  Continue reading “The Case of the Vanishing January”

Recipe Review: Alton Brown’s Lentil Soup (4 stars)

Traditionally, people tend to eat black eyed peas for good luck on New Year’s Day.  I bucked that trend (and to be honest I don’t actually remember ever having eaten black eyed peas) and decided to make, for the very first time, lentil soup.

I’ve had great luck with recipes from Alton Brown’s kitchen so when I found this Lentil Soup one, I decided to give it a try.

All of the ingredients I used were organic, which the exception of the spices.  And speaking of spices, I had to skip the ground Grains of Paradise as I could not find that spice at my local grocers.   I will have to special order that spice for the next time I make this recipe.  And there will be a next time.

This was super (or should I say ‘souper’) easy to make.  And it didn’t take me as long as his recipe stated to prep.  Probably just 15-20 minutes instead of thirty minutes.  I sweated the vegetables a little longer than his recipe stated because I used my new crockpot and not a dutch oven.

Terry and I both had two bowls of the lentil soup for supper.  Very good.  We have enough left over to freeze and/or eat again later this week.

Happy New Year!

A Cold Dark Oven

I’m thankful for many things this Thanksgiving.  Oddly, I’m somewhat thankful even for my cold, dark oven.

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I’m thankful that I won’t be on my feet for hours today prepping and baking for a family gathering.  For the first time in I don’t know how many years, I will not be basting and roasting a turkey.  I won’t be making more stuffing (I already succumbed last week and made a huge batch of stuffing because I couldn’t help myself). I might not escape baking entirely today, though, as I may break down and make Sticky Buns because it’s a TRADITION!

Continue reading “A Cold Dark Oven”

The Thing All Women Do That You Don’t Know About | Drifting Through My Open Mind

http://driftingthrough.com/2015/11/20/the-thing-all-women-do-that-you-dont-know-about/

The next time you read about or hear a woman call out sexist language, don’t belittle her for doing so. Listen.

I don’t go through life terrified of anything. You’re not ‘living’ if you’re ‘living scared.’ But I don’t trust and am wary of men I don’t know. The axiom ‘Actions speak louder than words’ applies here.

This article hits home and resonates.  I have done many of these defense mechanisms subconsciously most of my life.  The older I get though the less I care about the consequences to myself.  Awareness so that future generations of women can live without these ingrained defenses becomes my goal.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Doomed to Repeat Alternate History?

Why You Should Be Watching The Man in the High Castle – http://www.kameronhurley.com/why-you-should-be-watching-the-man-in-the-high-castle/

Meeting violence with violence doesn’t show strength: it inspires more violence.

I’ve been reading a lot if World War One and Two books lately, most recently The Seamstress.  It reminds me we must never forget and never repeat the evils of yesteryear. 

And yes I’ve read PKD’s Man in the High Castle. I wish I could watch the series but I’m not a subscriber of that ‘evil’ empire. 🙂

Somber thoughts today. 

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon